Diamond Dirt: Why not?

Monday

Mar 18, 2013 at 12:39 PMMar 18, 2013 at 12:50 PM

Jay Draudt makes a pretty good case.The longest home run ever hit in Hannibal should be marked and honored.Why not? Seriously.

Jay Draudt makes a pretty good case. The longest home run ever hit in Hannibal should be marked and honored. Why not? Seriously.How much could it possibly cost to set up a post and a sign atop the blockade at the end of Fifth Street and honor Roy Sievers and the longest home run Hannibal baseball fans ever saw? Doesn't sound like a huge cost to me, especially after we paid someone to botch the sidewalk project and go back to the drawing board. Whether you're a baseball fan or not — and if you're not, call a doctor — you can't help but adore the home run when it is hit in a baseball game. It's pretty amazing to see a man, no matter his stature, connect in such a way with all of his might and send the ball deep into the air. It's indescribable to witness the ball just going, going, going, watching it sail away. It doesn't matter the home run lands just beyond the fence or into the street above the ballpark, the home run, folks, is an amazing feat to achieve and witness. Everyone here in town can see how far the Fifth Street overlook is from home plate in Clemens Field. It's quite the distance, for a man to hit a ball that far is quite powerful and very skilled. And it's not like a no-name ballplayer did it. This is Roy Sievers we're talking about. One of the few good players to play for the St. Louis Browns, the 1949 Rookie of the Year, the 1957 home run champion with the last place Washington Senators — the first person in baseball history with that stat. He was a feared hitter, a hard-nosed player by many, many means. And on top of all that, he is the only baseball player to come from or through Hannibal in their career and actually have a stellar career, next to Jake Beckley of course. If this is truly America's Hometown, then we should give honor to our places in the American pastime. This could be an amazing summer with a new Beckley Memorial on Main Street and a Sievers Home Run Marker on Fifth Street dedicated. It would be nice to sit in Clemens Field and see all the fans pointing and aweing at the home run marker from their seats at how far Roy Sievers hit that home run in 1947. And in my opinion, the Hannibal City Council already has the suggestion on the table.Draudt plans to speak to them in a few weeks and officially pitch the idea, but it's not like they just can't do something now. They read this newspaper, they keep an eye on everything, look to see if their name is in the paper. What politician doesn't? It's in your hands city council, make the right call.

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